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Themes From Scary Movies

By Johnny Cat in Movies & SciFi, Music, Video Clips on Oct 20, 2009 at 10:23 pm


poltergeist-(2)Quick, think of a piece of music from a scary movie.

If you could think of seven different themes, chances are a few of them are on Cinematical’s list.

One of the seven is one of my favorite movies of the genre, Poltergeist, music by Jerry Goldsmith.

Jerry Goldsmith previously contributed a classic horror theme with his score for Richard Donner’s Omen, but this one, not unlike Komeda’s work on Rosemary’s Baby, runs counter to expectations that horror movie music needs to be naturally dark or heavy to be menacing. That said, the children’s chorus that sweetly and innocently provides a theme for the film’s young protagonist – ironically, sort of the conduit for both its “monster” and heroine – is at once wholesome and terrifying, creating a similar sense of unease and eventually terror as the kids embody the film’s themes of childhood swallowed by a mysterious and terrifying world.

YouTube Link

More great themes at Link.


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COMMENT
  1. Paula
    Oct 20th, 2009 at 11:03 pm

    i know this isn't a horror movie, but the hocus pocus song that sarah jessica parker sang in the movie is what i thought of, it's halloweeny.

  2. Seraph
    Oct 20th, 2009 at 11:40 pm

    This, I think, is one of the best "horror" film themes ever. Haunting, beautiful, and sorrowful, with some menace, too.

  3. Seraph
    Oct 20th, 2009 at 11:41 pm

    D'oh! I didn't know that wouldn't post.

    Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtTpT_FAV7g

    The Sixth Sense was brilliant with a brilliant score.

  4. BamaChris
    Oct 21st, 2009 at 10:26 am

    Hocus Pocus was awesome.

  5. Maarten Max
    Oct 21st, 2009 at 3:39 pm

    28 day later theme does it for moi hrhr

  6. StevieG
    Oct 28th, 2009 at 9:31 am

    I love listening to themes from scary movies around this time of year. There are also some pretty good "scary themes" that come from movies that are not strictly horror movies (though these movies are pretty intense, too; hence the scary themes).

    A couple of examples are:

    Incident At Isla Nublar (Jurassic Park)-John Williams
    (Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ftKefNsNC4)

    The Kraken (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest)-Hans Zimmer
    (Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AutdEDoi3s)

    ------------
    BTW, the song from Hocus Pocus is called "Come, Little Children".

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